1) Introduction
2) Christian Leaders
3) Managing Ministry Stress
4) Christian Leadership – The Servant Leader
5) Growing Christian Leaders
6) The King Who Led with a Towel – Jesus' Servant Leadership Role Model
7) A Different Leadership Style
8) 7 Tips to Reduce Project Management Stress for Christian Leaders
i) Be absolutely clear about what is to be achieved.
ii) Be absolutely clear about how the project goal is to be achieved
iii) Estimate the work to be done and build your plan
iv) Workout what could go wrong and how to deal with it
v) Know exactly what it will cost week by week
vi) “Sail” your project
vii) Take control of change; don't let it take control of you
9) Created to Lead: A Biblical Theology of Leadership
10)Theology of Leadership
11)Psycho-cultural leadership
12)PERSONAL LEADERSHIP IN MISSIONS
13)Creating Personal Leadership Plans
15)Conclusion
16)Bibliography
Introduction
What makes a good leader? A good leader is able to coordinate his followers around a credible mission statement, which communicates the future course of action of the organization. In practice, leaders learn about the best course of action for the organization over time. While learning helps improve the organization's goals it also creates a time-consistency problem. Leader resoluteness is a valuable attribute in such a setting, since it slows down the leader's learning and thus improves the credibility of the mission statement. But resolute leaders also inhibit communication with followers and leader resoluteness is costly when followers have sufficiently valuable signals.
Christian Leaders
Church and mission leaders are often considered by others to be indestructible; impervious to the very real stresses and strains of Christian leadership and ministry life. So often it's like being crushed and ground by the relentless turning of mill stones. The results can be devastating for the leader, their families and the church.
·Over 70% of Church ministers consider church expectations to be among the top ten sources of stress in the ministry.
·Around 50% of Church ministers feel pressured by the breakdown of their family life.
·Over 50% of Church ministers observe increasing levels of stress.
·Over 30% of Church ministers feel that their family suffers from insufficient time together
·Over 50% of Church ministers feel that lack of time is a major stress factor.
·Less than 10% of Church ministers enjoy their devotional life.
So, it's not surprising that in the UK, at any one time, over 25% of protestant ministers are thinking of leaving the ministry.[1]
Managing Ministry Stress
“Managing Ministry Stress” is a 4 part mini-course provided free of charge by Clay bury International for Christian leaders in churches and the mission field. [2]part 1 straight away and if you find it helpful you can sign up to receive the remaining three parts by email, free of charge. You will be able to unsubscribe at any time.
Read part 1 “If Only I Built Tables…..15 Reasons Why Church Leaders Are Stressed”
The content of this mini-course is adapted from Colin Buckland's book for Christian and Church leaders “Freedom to Lead” and is based on the combination of over 30 years of supporting and counseling Christian leaders and academic research into the state of the ministry. The remainder of mini-course comprises the following articles:
·The Elijah-Decision: When Stress Sucks Away Your Will to Go On.
·If I Just Keep Working then it Will All Go Away: Responding to Burnout
·Hoot a Few Hoots Voluntarily, Now and Then”: 15 Things That You Can Do to Reduce Stress
Christian Leadership – The Servant Leader
At the heart of Clay bury International's vision is the desire for Christian leaders, both inside and outside the church, to practice the leadership example of Jesus Christ.
It's not often that we step back and recognize that Jesus was a leader of people. He chose his team, his disciples[3], and led them for 3 years, growing them so that they could fulfill their Kingdom mission. In just the same way that the “author and perfecto of our faith” is a role model for individual Christians he is also the model for Christian leadership for those working towards the fullness of his Kingdom.
Jesus was the epitome of what has become called the “servant leader” and he taught the disciples the values of being such a leader.
Growing Christian Leaders
Healthy leaders grow healthy churches and organizations but comparatively little is done to develop and grow these skills. The outlook of the Servant Leader is vital if the people in our organizations and church leadership teams are to achieve their full potential and in turn enable the people in their charge to do the same.
The King Who Led with a Towel – Jesus' Servant Leadership Role Model
The teachings and life style of Jesus are significant in the Christian's life. He is the essential role model for how we seek to live out our lives. It's interesting, therefore, that his model is often sadly neglected when it comes to aspects of church and organizational leadership. He was the prototype of Christian leadership.[4]
“The King Who Led with a Towel” is a three part article that examines Jesus' leadership style and example. It is extracted from “Culture Craft” by Rick Sesames and Colin Buckland and Rick's original 2003 paper. Their dialogue introduces us to the explicit leadership lessons that Jesus gave to his Disciples and his leadership values. They provide key insights into a practical and effective style of leadership for Christian leaders in both churches and other organizations.
This first part of “The King Who Led with a Towel” considers the lessons that Jesus taught his Disciples about leadership and part two looks at the servant leadership values that Jesus demonstrated.[5]
A Different Leadership Style
John 13:3-14 is a classic biblical account that demonstrates Jesus' leadership perspectives and practice:
“Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin, and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, 'Lord, are you going to wash my feet?' Jesus replied, 'You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.'
'No,' said Peter, 'you shall never wash my feet.'
Jesus answered, 'Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.'
'Then, Lord,' Simon Peter replied, 'not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!' Jesus answered, 'A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.' For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not everyone was clean.
When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. 'Do you understand what I have done for you?' he asked them. 'You call me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”
The time was Passover, the most sacred of Jewish feasts. Three million people would have been in Jerusalem for this Celebration Week. Word had spread like wildfire through the city that Jesus of Nazareth was on his way to the feast. Thousands lined the road as Jesus made his way into Jerusalem. “Hosanna!” they chanted. “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the kingdom of our father David!”
But Jesus wasn't what the crowd expected. They expected a conquering King. He disappointed the Passover pilgrims that week. But in so doing, he fulfilled their most profound need. This is made graphically clear a few days later when Jesus and his friends had gathered for a meal. Since the streets and roads of Palestine were plain dirt – in dry weather they were deep in dust, and in wet weather they could become liquid mud – the shoes people wore in that day were simple: a flat sole, held onto the feet by a few straps. So every walk in the street soiled the feet. That's why just inside the doorway of homes sat a basin of water with a towel. The custom was for a servant to greet visitors and wash their feet.[6]
But on this night when Jesus gathered his disciples for a meal, the wash basin sat unused. Of course, the disciples had their minds riveted on more noble thoughts. The talk of the week had ignited their imaginations of the Kingdom of God – dreams of thrones and power and glory. In fact, they were conflicted about which of them would be the greatest in this Kingdom – while everybody in the house had dirty feet.
So Jesus got up from the table, prepared himself, and started to wash the feet of his followers. Here is the King of Kings, washing filthy feet, and drying them with a towel. Here is a King whose symbol of authority is a towel. Jesus demonstrated and taught three lessons about leadership in his use of the towel that night.
7 Tips to Reduce Project Management Stress for Christian Leaders
At some point every Christian leader will end up being called upon to lead some kind of project. They may be short and quick such as putting together and running a special service or church anniversary weekend. At the other end of the spectrum they might be large and challenging. In a church situation this may mean be being responsible for some kind of building work.
Many Christian leaders have no training or experience of running a project and that in itself can be an enormous stress factor. Whilst natural organisational ability is enormously helpful, in itself it is no guarantee of any project being both successful and low stress.
This article lists 7 key tips to help you negotiate the journey of bringing your project to a successful conclusion and reducing your stress on the way.
1) Be absolutely clear about what is to be achieved.
The factor that causes more project failure than any other is, not knowing with clarity, what is the goal of the project. If you don't know this, how can you deliver the outcome? How will you know when the project is finished?
Think through all the aspects that need to be addressed or will be affected. Identify what you need to achieve for each of these.
Take time to work this out with everyone who has a say – the stakeholders. Write it down and agree it with signatures. You may think this to be overkill but if nothing else it is about protecting relationships. Memories fade and misunderstandings arise. These lead to disputes which can be terribly damaging for the individuals as well as the organization or church involved. If it's written down and agreed many such problems can be avoided.
Writing down your agreement it is a golden rule. I have seen friendships destroyed because agreements were not written down.[7]
2) Be absolutely clear about how the project goal is to be achieved.
What you want to achieve and how you will achieve it are two related but very different things. They can be easily confused, which is important for larger, more costly projects or when there may be several options available. A trivial illustration: your church garden is in need of a makeover. The goal is to have an attractive and tidy garden that is easy to maintain. How many ways might there be of achieving that?[8]
Workout the solution to the need and be clear and precise. Be careful not to get caught in tramline-thinking that forces you to the “obvious” solution. It may not be the best solution. Think it through creatively. You may need to call upon others with expertise to help.
Remember again that golden rule for survivable relationships: write the solution down and get the stakeholders to agree it.
3) Estimate the work to be done and build your plan
Now comes the most obvious part of managing a project: setting out the plan.
Having decided what the project goal is and how it will be achieved the next steps are:
·Break the project down into all the jobs (tasks) that need to be done.
·Workout how much effort, resource and money is needed for each task and how long each will take
·Identify who will do the work. Sometimes the work may be contracted out. E.g building work.[9]
·Determine how the tasks relate to each other. Some can only start when others have finished.
·Draw up a diagram that links the tasks in their sequence. Set the start date and using the task durations determine the total time the project will take and when it should finish.
4) Workout what could go wrong and how to deal with it
Projects go wrong. That is a fact of life, a stressful one at that.
One of the secrets of excellent project management is identifying things that could go wrong and preparing for them before they do go wrong. It's called risk management and it's a major tool in reducing the project manager's stress levels.
Having made your first plan, stop and workout what might possibly go wrong with the project and what the consequences might be. Identify how likely it is that each risk will arise. For the most probable risks with the highest impacts, simply workout in advance how the project can avoid, minimize or deal with the issue if it happens. Then revise your plan building in the actions.
Repeatedly review risks throughout the duration of the project. You will never get them all but you can reduce the likelihood of things going wrong and with that your stress levels will be lower.
5) Know exactly what it will cost week by week
It is an obvious recommendation to know what your project will cost in total, but this is not enough. The smart project manager knows how his costs build up and what he expects to have spent each week. This is closely allied to how much effort will be expended each week of the project.
These enable him to have the following vital metrics with which he can compare progress and steer the project.
1) Total Budget
2) Cumulative spend to date on a week by week basis
3) Forecast spend to complete the project
The combined values of 2) and 3) should be the same as 1). If not then the project is under or over spending. Either way the project manager needs to understand why and take any action required to maintain course.[10]
6) “Sail” your project
Project management is a bit like sailing a yacht. The captain sets his course and steers the craft but must constantly monitor and take account of his metrics – the location, changing conditions and progress. Responding to and sometimes pre-empting situations, he makes the necessary alterations to the trim of the boat and its course.
The things that the project manager monitors are:
·The rate of spend against his budget, which he needs to know on a week by week basis,.
·How much work is still to be done? The captain is seldom interested in how far his boat has come but how far there is left to go. Conditions change and although he may have been at sea for 3 days, he may not have travelled the distance he had planned.
·The emerging risks; those identified as likely to arise and any new ones that may be emerging.
Dependent upon the outcome of these things the project manager will adjusts the plan to keep on track. It may be that he can change the sequence of the tasks but he may have no choice but to re-plan the project for a later and more expensive completion.
What is most important is to engage in this as an active process and to monitor the effort and the money required to finish the project, responding to deviations from plan by “changing the trim” of the project.[11]
7) Take control of change; don't let it take control of you
One certainty in any project is that things change. The situation may change, new information may come to light, risks emerge, the target solution doesn't do the job as expected, the “customer” may realize something he had forgotten, the unforeseeable happens. By definition a change is anything that was not included in the agreed goals, solution, costings and plan. If they were not written and properly agreed the project manager has little ground on which stand when change is required or occurs.
If left unmanaged change will blow the project way off course and the project manager might not even realize until it is too late. This is why written and agreed plans are important. They provide a definition of the project deliverables, cost and timing. Nothing should be allowed to change these things without the impact and cost being assessed and the solution agreed.[12]
For instance, the project's end client may request some enhancement to the deliverable. This could be easily accommodated at a cost. If the change request is not properly considered and agreed but just included the customer may have a surprise when the project over runs and costs more. Had he understood the implications he may have decided not to go ahead with the change. More insidiously, the team working on the project may happily incorporate lots of small changes. No single change is costly in itself – but a whole bundle of them? Well that is a different matter; together they may be enough to cause the project to run out of money before it's completed.
One oversight in many plans that causes problems are undeclared assumptions. These are things that were anticipated but not declared. Often change affects these and because they were about things which were uncertain anyway and because they were not written down disagreements arise. Another golden rule is always declare your assumptions at the outset and include them in your solution statement and plans.
It is essential to keep change under control; that means reviewed and agreed before it's allowed to happen. For obvious reasons this is another great stress reduction strategy.
Created to Lead: A Biblical Theology of Leadership
The unfolding storyline of the Bible, through its narrative examples, prophetic oracles, apostolic instructions, and divine admonitions, provides the necessary contours for discerning a biblical theology of leadership. The whole drama of redemption can be viewed in terms of God’s design for human leadership. God created humanity to serve as leaders over his creation. Adam brought about the Fall [13]when he failed to lead properly, and the result of the Fall was an abdication of leadership from man to Satan. God sent his only Son as a man to forever restore proper leadership over God’s creation to a glorified human race over which he is the head. From Eden to Egypt to Canaan to Exile to Judea to the ends of the earth to the recreation of the world, proper leadership is characterized by four important qualities. First, it is a derivative leadership that originates from, reflects, and represents the leadership of God. Second, it is a leadership marked by obedience to God. Third, it is a leadership distinguished by love for those who are led. And fin all[14]
Theology of Leadership
Leadership is less about the words or actions of the leader and more about the character of the leader.
That’s the conclusion I’ve reached after revisiting what the Bible has to say about leadership within the Church. For example, we can look at a handful of passages and come to this “job description” for leaders:[15]
Encourage others. (Romans 14:19)
Set an example with your speech, life and faith. (I Timothy 4:12)
Remain pure. (I Timothy 4:12)
Embrace humility and gentleness. (Ephesians 4:2)
Promote peace and unity. (Ephesians 4:3)
Avoid arguments and quarreling. (I Timothy 2:24)
Gently instruct others. (I Timothy 2:25)
Maintain emotional control. (Titus 2:6)
Demonstrate integrity in your actions and speech. (Titus 2:7-8)
Live your life above reproach. (I Timothy 3:2)
It’s not the job description you would expect to see for a leadership position is it? When you think about today’s “leaders” in politics and business and even the church, these aren’t typically the attributes that first come to mind.
I guess it’s possible that leadership outside the church looks different than God intended it to look inside the church. That may explain some of the differences between the “job description” above and what we routinely see in the marketplace. Ironically, though, Jim Collins offered some research in his book Good to Great that seems to suggest business leaders would do well to model this biblical approach to leadership. Every good-to-great company Collins studied was led by what he described as a Level 5 leader. Collins wrote:
“Those who worked with or wrote about the good-to-great leaders continually used words like quiet, humble, modest, reserved, shy, gracious, mild-mannered, self-effacing, understated, did not believe his own clippings; and so forth.”
It’s interesting how similar that list is to the list above. Neither list reflects the larger-than-life leadership that we tend to expect from people in these positions.
And that, of course, challenges me to think about my own leadership. I may be gifted to lead, but my character will determine the ongoing impact of my leadership. That’s something that can’t be measured in an interview or through a personality profile or on a resume. Character is proven over a lifetime.[16]
Psycho-cultural leadership
Congregations that exist in culturally diverse communities have two options before them. They can interact with the community as mono-cultural organizations serving in a multi-ethnic context or they can embrace the basic convictions of multi-culturalism.1 The multi-cultural Christian community enacts respect for the validity of cultural difference and accepts the need for both dominant and minority cultures to be open to adjustment through dynamic interaction. In addition, such communities recognize the need for ethnic minorities to maintain a sense of cultural identity as a means of validating their voice in inter-cultural dialogue. These multi-cultural congregations desire to be a place where the vision of an inclusive God can be lived out in practical reality to the best of their God-given understanding and ability.
Christian congregations, functioning in multi-ethnic environments, embrace the diversity of cultures in the spirit of an inclusive God – thereby becoming multi-cultural congregations. But what are the requirements for leadership in such faith communities? What self-awareness concerning multi-cultural interaction is necessary in such leaders?
This article reviews leadership models presented in business and educational literature. Also discussed are models of leadership in the unique environment of the Christian faith community. In particular, Christian leadership models suggested by multi-cultural practitioners are examined. These perspectives aid in building a profile of multi-cultural leaders by outlining the cognitive processes, attitudes, skills, and practices necessary for the development and on-going maintenance of multi-cultural congregations.
The term "leaders" refers to those persons who have oversight of the policies and practices that develop and sustain the vision and goals of a local congregation. The terms include both ordained pastoral leaders and the elected and informal leaders who take on this responsibility. It is my assertion that leaders in multi-cultural congregations need to reflect an awareness of their role that is rooted in a view of God as one who welcomes all persons, regardless of their cultural frameworks. This perspective is developed through personal inter-cultural experience and intentional skill acquisition.
A typical definition of leadership suggests leaders to be people with "the capacity to influence the thoughts, behaviors and/or feelings of others" (Gardner in Foster 1997, 116). "Capacity" can refer to an ability to influence, but it also implies the notion of substance or volume as in a collection of attitudes, abilities, and skills. In this article I will use this collective sense when discussing a leader’s capacity to influence. Influencing can involve both direct means (e.g. teaching, group skills) as well as indirect means (e.g. attitudes, personal relations). Both direct and indirect means are necessary to stimulate leaders, at all levels of their being (cognitive, affective, and physical), to achieve developmental goals.
Several leadership approaches will be discussed in this article and a variety of terms are employed that reflect both direct and indirect means of influencing people. Envisioning refers to the leader’s ability to see a clear picture of a possible future. Embedding refers to the means by which leaders firmly fix the values and practices that they perceive are appropriate to the organization’s goals. Embodying refers to the ability of leaders to personally live out the values and practices that they espouse. Enabling refers to the leader’s ability to create an environment in which employees or members feel able to take the steps necessary to act upon the values and practices of the organization. Empowering refers to the leader’s ability to make resources available to employees or members and to encourage them to make autonomous decisions on the basis of those resources. Embracing is understood in the manner articulated by Miroslav Volt and expanded upon by Charles Foster, as that movement of different peoples who desire "to be close to others without losing the integrity of their own identities" (Foster 1997, 1).[17]
PERSONAL LEADERSHIP IN MISSIONS
Personal leadership is the self confident ability to crystallize your thinking and establish an exact direction for your life, to commit yourself to moving in that direction and then to take determined action to acquire, accomplish or become whatever you identify as the ultimate goal for your life. Personal leadership is a process of developing a positive self-image that gives you the courage and self-confidence necessary to consciously choose actions that satisfy your needs, to follow that path with perseverance, and accept responsibility for the outcome. Exercising personal leadership demands conscious assumption of control over one’s own destiny through the establishment of personal goals based on values that give depth and meaning to every action. Doing what you know is right and productive for you regardless of obstacles or the opinions of others is the essence of personal leadership. To exercise strong personal leadership people must recognize and believe in their own untapped potential, develop a strong self-image, be self motivated through hope and faith in their personal vision through desires (needs) held with expectation and belief that they will be realized. Also, at the personal level, success must be defined in terms of the It is a philosophy or creed that focuses on what you want to be (character), to do (contributions and achievements), and on the values or principles that your attitudes and actions are based. It is a personal constitution that, much like the United States Constitution, is fundamentally changeless. “It becomes a personal constitution, the basis for making major, life-directional decisions in the midst of the circumstances and emotions that affect our lives. It empowers individuals with the same timeless strength in the midst of change (Covey, 1990, p.108.).” Personal leadership should be viewed as a journey not a destination. Like spiritual perfection it is something one can always lose if not continuously being sought, and where progress is the goal not perfection. The development and presentation of a personal mission statement requires you to apply these issues of personal leadership to yourself personally. Your statement might include answering such personal questions as: [18]
Creating Personal Leadership Plans
It’s never too soon or too late to pull together your own personal leadership development plan. Whether you are just out of school and beginning your career or whether you are a seasoned veteran who would like a new career direction or new impetus for your current career, a “plan” can pull everything together for you.
It’s never too soon or too late to pull together your own personal leadership development plan. Whether you are just out of school and beginning your career or whether you are a seasoned veteran who would like a new career direction or new impetus for your current career, a “plan” can pull everything together for you.
You already know a great deal about yourself, but this knowledge is not well-organized unless it is written down. When you write things on paper or electronically, it forces you to focus your thoughts and energies.[19]
You align your past, present, and future in an integrated way that can’t be done when all the parts of you are simply whirling around in your head.
When you explore your beliefs, values, interests, needs, and those experiences that have shaped your life, you can pull this together into a better understanding of who you currently are and where you want to go with your life.
The preparation work involved in this Plan will also help you to develop the very useful practice of introspection, looking inward for guidance.
Strategic leadership skills are about thinking through the mission critical actions and activities and mission critical outcome necessary to achieve the goals and objectives of the organization. People who are strategic leaders put outcome first and behave in a way that will help expedite the process of delivering that outcome. It’s all about clarifying what is mission critical and how, as a strategic leader, you can enroll and engage people around you on what to do and how to do it so as to enhance the delivery of that mission critical work.
Strategic leaders trying to grow their sales organizations should focus on strategic alliances with their customers. They determine who their key customers are and how to enhance that relationship for the purposes of enhancing their business’s bottom line. These leaders behave in a way that helps the customer feel good about their relationship and do more business with their organization than they’re doing already. In addition, they spend a lot of effort on the R&D that goes into new products their organization need to have to deliver to the clients.
For example, Coca-Cola has said they want to be in arms reach of their consumers and they define their consumers as all 6 billion people on the planet. With that mission critical definition, they’re able to behave in a way that drives alliances to make that happen. For example Coca-Cola has alliances all over the country in schools and in airlines like Delta. They clearly defined the mission critical actions necessary to get their mission critical outcome.
It’s universal. Strategic leadership skills are global and permeate into all markets, including the Internet. For example, Big Brothers Big Sisters decided they wanted a million mentors. To accomplish this, their strategic leaders have aligned with a huge variety of organizations from the Greek Letter organizations to professional service organizations, working to attract people to come and be mentors to young children.
Ten years ago you didn’t see the kind of advertising you see today. Now, on Face book, you could win a BMW if you donated to Big Brothers Big Sisters because one of the dealers was committed enough to the mission critical goal to make it happen. Being strategic about the mission critical outcome, in this case getting more “Biggs” for their “Littlest”, began the process of figuring out how to create strategic alliances on a global level that are going to work for them and get to their goal. Their mentor numbers have continued to rise on a monthly basis.[20]
Ultimately, you won’t be able to deliver results without people supporting you and the mission critical behaviors necessary to deliver your goal. So part of strategic leadership, regardless of the organization, is about delivering and leading in such a way so that people want to support what you are doing. In any organization, employees who feel devalued will not deliver their best work and there is no chance of getting 100% from them to achieve the mission critical activities you’ve given them to move your goal forward.
The Enron scandal is an example of a company that broke the trusts of its employees and investors. Strategic leaders at Enron made choices that did not honor the relationships they were in. As a result, they weren’t strategic with leveraging their relationships and misused them and the business crumbled.
Conclusion
We have proposed a model of leadership in organizations that captures a fundamental
Tension between adaptation to changing circumstances and coordination of followers on a given course of action. Specially, the leader’s problem is to steer the organization
Towards the best overall strategy or mission, while communicating a clear mission to
Other organization members that help them coordinate and implement the organize
Strategy. We have stripped down our model of leadership to .vet main phases. In a .rest phase; the leader assesses the environment and de.nes a mission for the organization. In a second phase, the other members attempt to coordinate around the leaders stated mission. Followers face their own dilemma, as they are aware that the leader may change the organization’s strategy in a subsequent stage in light of new information he gets about the environment. Therefore, they will use their own private information to forecast the likely change in strategy. Since private information is heterogeneous, forecasts and resulting actions are heterogeneous. This is the coordination problem that the leader is trying to minimize. In a third phase, the leader gets new information, updates his assessment of the state and chooses a direction for the organization. Fourth and last, the state is revealed and leader’s and followers.payo¤s are realized.
The main message of the paper is that the tension between coordination and adaptation creates a time-consistency problem. This problem is ameliorated when leaders are resolute. Steadfastness causes the leader to stick to his guns because he fails to up-date as much as he rationally should. Even when the leader can pledge a commitment cost, being resolute is helpful for two reasons: First, it induces the leader to make a stronger commitment not to change the organization’s direction. The stronger commitment achieves better coordination. Second, resoluteness results in lower commitment costs paid because the resolute leader makes smaller changes in direction. The model also illustrates the dangers of resoluteness in situations where followers have valuable information.
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[2] Smith, Wilma F. and Andrews, Richard L., Instructional Leadership: How Principals Make a Difference, ASCD, 1989 page 16-24
[3] Sergiovanni, Thomas J., Moral Leadership: Getting to the Heart of School Improvement, Jossey-Bass, 1992.page 62-62
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[6] Schein, Edgar H., The Corporate Culture Survival Guide, A Warren Bennis Book, Jossey-Bass, Inc., 1999 page 40-42
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[8] Robins, Pam & Alvy, Harvey B., The Principal’s Companion: Strategies and Hints to Make the Job Easier, Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press Inc., 1995.(An easy to read book of tips to help principals move through the day.)
[9] Monroe, Lorraine, Nothing’s Impossible: Leadership Lessons from Inside and Outside the Classroom, Public Affairs, 1999.(A plain spoken description complete with challenges, setbacks and doubts of Dr. Monroe’s passionate campaign to turn around one Harlem school and the lessons her experiences)
[10] McEwan, Elaine K., 7 Steps to Effective Instructional Leadership, 2nd Edition, Corwin Press, 2003.
[11] McEwan, Elaine K., 7 Steps to Effective Instructional Leadership, 2nd Edition, Corwin Press, 2003.
[12] Maltz, Maxwell, M.D., F.I.C.S., Psycho-Cybernetics, Pocket Books, 1960
[13] Gupton, Sandra Lee, The Instructional Leadership Toolbox: A Handbook for Improving Practice, Corwin Press, 2003.
[14] 1]Anthony A. Hoekema, Created in God’s Image (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986), 68.
Press, p.71.
[17] Welch, Sharon. "An Ethic of Solidarity and Difference." In Postmodernism, Feminism, and Cultural Politics: Redrawing Education Boundaries, (ed.) Henry A. Giroux. Albany: State University of New York, 1991.
closure,.RAND Journal of Economics, 38(1), 164.184.
and the Mechanics of Institutional Change,.Working Paper.
agement Science, 39, 1299.1318.
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